Mirror Fold
by Monoji
Summary: Gasping isn't that easy when you're a non-native left in charge of several others by pure coincidence. This is the now Uchiha Izumi's predicament. [Warning: Contains SI-OC, OCs, and an AU route]
1. Prologue : Run Off

_Why is the killing of a million a lesser crime than the killing of an individual?~ Raphael Lemkin_

 **Prologue : Run Off**

The screaming and shouting did not denter Izumi's will. Trembling hands yanked at her dead mother's eyes as they detached themselves from the woman's eye sockets with a sickening pop. Much like her own, they had blossomed into full blown roses. No longer were they the common seedlings plentiful among the clan. Bloodied hands pressed the two eyeballs against an empty storage scroll. A lick of chakra is all it took to hide them away. Such precautions were an abnormal action for a child to take. Izumi was well aware of this, hence her decision to strike during the first of Konoha's many disasters.

Hefting herself out of the collapsed housing space around her proved difficult with her eyes eating away at her chakra. Turning said eyes off weren't an option. She feared her body would begin to go through shock if she did. At that moment her eyes were the only thing keeping her tethered to her Genocide Avoidance Strategy Plan, which her mind shortened to Operation: G.A.S.P. She had no other option but to weather through it.

Several tries later had her jumping out of her destroyed house through its cracked roof. A gust of wind from one of the Kyuubi's tails flattened the construct moments later. She didn't appreciate the added turbulence that altered her trajectory. Instead of landing outside on her house's yard like she hoped, she ended up crashing through an adjacent building a couple of blocks down.

Her body felt like lead as it pushed itself off the displaced beams behind her. Wooden grain dug into her bare feet every step of the way. It was only after Izumi stepped on her first body that she realized she had ended up in the Uchiha District's Nursery. The form below her foot was that of a pregnant woman. There was no shout or scream that indicated that the person felt anything. The woman's body was as stock still as that of Izumi's mother. Two others were in a similar state. Both were pregnant, unmoving, and had eyes that had bloomed. She was tempted to take their eyes first, but a sliver of humanity managed to slip its way past the haze that was her mind on autopilot. The engrained movements that were being sharpened to kill were put to the task of saving the unborn.

She cut three stomachs open that day knowing that it was uncertain that they would survive. Each one was carefully dug through until the source of new life was found. Bloodied kunais were repurposed from flesh cutters to umbilical cord snappers.

It was only after the Nursey's last wooden column gave way that Izumi realized there were more inhabitants within the building. Her urge to escape and save someone came clashing upon her mind's door.

A black flaming mist extended from her body and took other bodies with her. All Izumi could think about was how she would never get to make her great escape. By the time she got around to blaming her bleeding heart, she was blacking out on a patch of grass that wasn't there before.

oOo

The scream that rebounded off her ears as the sun shined down on her face did not faze her strained mind as it was briefly roused from its slumber. Someone had taken a weight off her chest, which she was immensely grateful for. She greedily sucked in as much fresh air as she could now that she was without hindrance. Distantly, she could hear someone call for a doctor while another argued that an undertaker was what was needed.

Tears began prickling her eyes as Izumi realized she could no longer lift her limbs. The panic that overcame her made it impossible to breathe.

* * *

~Author's Notes~

* * *

 _{Prologue written on}_ July 28, 2018

 _{Thanks to}_ Evyira for inspiring this via her work on _Of Crimson Memories_. I'll be writing this while I wait for the next update to their story.

 _{Explanations}_ No, Izumi's Mangekyo Sharingan was not pivotal to Operation:G.A.S.P. In fact, she didn't even have that stage of the Sharingan active prior to the Kyuubi attack. She had no knowledge of its capabilities when it did activate. It was pure sheer luck (or plot contrivance[for those of you that are probably miffed at the character's "over poweredness"]) that _not_ Izumi survived without Itachi's help like _canon_ Izumi did in the anime (not sure if that's an anime only event or if it happened in the light novel[I'll probably find some middle ground for this story on how...probably/maybe?]).

[{Please Note} This will be the only time the following section will be featured]

 _{Aims}_

So many stories with OCs or SI-OCs that have Mangekyo make Mangekyo this unstoppable OP force, when it's not. Not even Itachi, who's a prodigy, could escape its drawbacks. The only two people to manage that are Sasuke and Madara via their brothers' eyes.

Yes, I realize I gave Izumi the possibility of achieving the Eternal Mangekyo, but in order to do that she would have to pull a Kakashi(i.e. have a medi-nin on standby). That won't be feasible for her unless she either goes to a Shinobi village, which is a no go, or she contacts Obito(that's how Sasuke did it), which hell no she ain't doing.

Let's also not forgot the amount of time it takes to master an ability and get one's eyes to keep up with their body. Itachi had that training down pat by the time he showed up in canon, and Sasuke had to literally go to Orochimaru. Else he wouldn't have been able to handle his body's future burdens. At the moment Izumi has neither mastery of the basic Sharingan nor the large chakra pool needed to spam chakra intensive techniques(she's a freaking five year old physically). No amount of mental maturity can overcome the body's limitations.

In summation, I basically want to highlight the fact that there are consequences to using Mangekyo or any other overpowered technique. I feel that's something Naruto fanfics don't do enough of.


	2. Chp1 : Peripheral Vanity

_Those of you lucky enough to still have their lives, take them with you! However, leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now...except you Sofie!~ from Kill Bill, Volume One_

 **Chapter 1 : Peripheral Vanity**

 _"Izumi dear, you don't have to try so hard," sighed her current mother figure. The woman gently pulled the brush out of her hand and set it down on the table in front of them, next to the black ink pot. "There's no need to push yourself."_

 _The full-blooded Uchiha meant for it to sound soothing, Izumi knew, but it didn't change the fact that it ticked the halfling off._

 _"Haven't you seen the way that they look at you- us?" the young Uchiha girl seethed. "What does the clan have against civilian outsiders!" This she asked in reference to the woman's marriage to her current father figure._

 _Sakuya, still holding onto Izumi's hands, patted them down with her left hand and squeezed them with her right. "It isn't so much outsiders but civilians in general, Izumi dear. I- I let the clan down with tekisei my lack."_

 _"Tekisei?" Izumi muttered._

 _"My lack of potential."_

 _Then it clicked for the girl. Sakuya lacked the aptitude for the ninja lifestyle. The clan in turn deemed her a waste of space. That same courtesy extended to Izumi since she was of civilian stock; fathered by an outsider._

 _"I let them down with my lack of aptitude," Sakuya repeated, drawing Izumi away from her thoughts. The woman was hunched over as if it were some great shame._

 _"Then that just means it'll feel all the sweeter when I do succeed," Izumi said resolute._

oOo

The flickering of light brought Izumi back to the waking world. Blue curtains brushed her nose from time to time whenever the wind decided to brush past her. The tranquil ambience clashed with the aggravated squawking of seagulls outside.

" _Ooooceeeaaan…_ " the Uchiha wheezed. Her parched tongue poked the air in search of moisture.

She should have been more concerned about waking in an unknown place. Shinobi protocol dictated it, but she couldn't muster up the effort to care. Then she felt it. A sharp pang that rippled down her lower back. It caused her to tense briefly before her stomach twisted into a knot. The release that followed felt like someone had snatched back a retracting bungee cord somewhere on the lowest part of her torso. Something warm crawled down from between her legs. It slithered out over her thigh. Izumi followed the sensation out onto the floor with her eyes. Hanging on a stand next to her were two bags. One was for urine and the other strapped on the very top of the stand screamed IV at her. The tube connected to that clear liquid bag descended to the area under her blanket that was closest to where she assumed her left arm was.

She was in a room near the ocean. It did not make any sense. Konoha was a landlocked area surrounded by forestry, and even if it was near the ocean, the village hospital would still prioritize shinobi lives over that of civilians during an attack.

Izumi's ponderings over the mystery came to an end when the room's door opened. In stepped a man in a doctor's coat. A silver stethoscope was wrapped around his neck, and his loose checkered green shirt and blue denim jeans clashed horribly with the pink and white teardrop patterned bandana over his head. None of that mattered though. Not even the chipped forest green geta on his feet could garner her attention for long. No, what put her on edge was a combination of russet facial features and the silver blond hair found on the person's visage.

The man paused in his movements and sighed. "Look," he said, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "I'm not a pirate despite what your parents may say. I'm not even from 'pirate land'."

Izumi's eyebrows rose in confusion. She did not know what being from the Land of Lightning had to do with being a pirate. Was the Land of Lightning really responsible for generating most of the Mizukiri Sea's pirate population? It would have made much more sense for island nations such as the Land of Water or even Wave to be the ones responsible for the molding of seafaring bandits.

The wizened girl was about to say as much as soon as she got her body up, but the words died on her lips. Her arms and legs would not budge. All the Uchiha could do was squirm in her blankets. The movements ceased when she heard the first clacks. The stranger was getting closer; his geta's clacking turned into creaks when he neared the right side of her bed. In that time Izumi's face turned red. The blankness of her expression crumpled under the weight of a full on bowel movement.

The doctor cringed and pinched his nose. "You went… didn't you?"

Izumi could not meet his eyes.

"I'll get the nurse. Nothing to be afraid of," he said, trying and failing to sound reassuring. "A week long coma will do that to you."

oOo

After sitting helplessly through a thorough scrub down, Izumi could safely say that she knew enough about the various nurses around the clinic to blackmail them for days. Why that was the first thing that came to mind when she was released she could not say. At least she found out where she was and how she got there. She was the talk of the town after all.

Apparently, she arrived on one of the Land of Wave's many riversides in a burst of flames. That river happened to be where the local women gathered to wash the day's laundry while the men prepared to set sail out to sea. The nurse that was there when it happened described her arrival as that of the emergence of an onyx flaming fire pit that sucked in all of the sun's warmth. Once the fire vanished people began panicking at the sight of bodies with second degree burns on them. Izumi had raised her eyebrows at that. She hadn't expected her near death experience to end with her pulling a Dumbledore.

She moved her ardent eyes around in an attempt to relieve the tension behind them. The feeling of a burning pressure had not been a dream after all. She was not in Konoha anymore. That itself was proof enough.

"I want to see them," Izumi told the doctor.

"Hmmm?" the doctor hummed distractedly as he flipped through the papers on his clipboard.

"Those bodies that arrived with me; I want to see them," she clarified.

The doctor jerked his head back. His hazel eyes sharpened on her form. "Who told you?"

"Nurse gossip."

He snorted. The response did not seem to surprise him at all. "Of course." he set the clipboard down on the counter next to him and turned to face her more readily this time. "I'll take you. Be warned though, patients don't look their best when wounds are still fresh, Little Sakuya."

* * *

 **~FootNotes~**

* * *

 _{Chapter completed on}_ August 3, 2018

 _{Explanation}_

適性 Tekisei translates to Aptitude.

Izumi isn't fluent to the point where she can understand everything all at once. Sometimes she takes a couple of seconds to minutes to translate things in her head. She's expanding her vernacular as she goes.

水切り Mizukiri translates to Watery End.

It's the name of the sea between Fire, Lightning, Water, and the lands beyond Water for this story(not canon a name).

 _{P.S}_ I'll increase the length of the chapters as time goes on.


	3. Chp2 : Children of the Wound

_It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.~ Frederick Douglas_

 **Chapter 2 : Children of the Wound**

As she had guessed, the clinic hallways were not really made with wheelchairs in mind. The man in charge had taken to throwing blankets on swivel chairs with armrests on them and used that to transport patients that could not walk, or at least that was what Izumi assumed. She could not know for sure. No other handicapped patients were out and about like she was. This rattled Izumi. The idea of being the only one under such care.

Those thoughts were pushed to the side when the mahogany wooden floors gave way to an ashen door. It was like any of the other clinic doors that dotted the halls. Its barren white wood accented the manila colored walls surrounding it.

Izumi felt as though the world came to a stop. She was not so sure she wanted to see what was behind that door anymore. The blinking lights trapped within the ceiling were unsettling enough. Charred bodies would not help quell the guilt that stabbed at her stomach; they would worsen it.

"Well, this is it," said the doctor. He had stilled her chair and leaned forward in his gait to reach for the door knob.

Izumi felt the sweat trickle down her brow and the tension build up in her lungs. In no time at all she was calling for the good doctor to wait. The man paused and looked at her curiously.

"I-I didn't get your name," she stated in a shaken manner. She shook as though the sweat on her back were not there at all.

"Kakujin no Shenki," he replied before proceeding to crack the door open just a fraction for her. She saw the first few rows of beds inside. "I can tell you're nervous. If you feel like you can't handle this, then it's best you head back to your quarters."

"No!" Izumi squeaked in refusal. Doctor Shenki raised an eyebrow in query. "I mean, I'm perfectly fine now."

"Alright then."

And so, Izumi was guided into the room. The seat rose a bit as the chair drove over the bump that separated the two floor tiles that met at the threshold. From there on in, the floor was covered in the types of tiles one would find in a bathroom or a kitchen.

Izumi gulped as she dragged her eyes away from the floor and raised them to be at eye level with the beds. She gagged.

A nurse was slowly peeling away at old bandages on one of the bodies that rested one of the beds. She guessed that the person was at least three or four years old based on their size. The bandages being pulled away from their person was peeling the taunt dry skin that pressed against their body. She could see fresh fluid drip with every russell.

Before she could take more in, her chair was yanked back. Her left side nearly collided with the door frame as she was pulled out. It was not Doctor Shenki who had pulled her away but an enraged nurse.

"This is no place for a child!" the nursed hissed. It was with such force that it had Izumi flinching back, only for her to realize that the nurse was not addressing her but the doctor.

"Yet it's children that are being treated in there," the doctor pointed out, hands stuffed into his pockets.

The nurse sighed. With a shake of her head she admitted that, "I'm well aware, but still, not every child that appears mature is a ninja child. And even ninja children aren't immune to the faults of childhood." Izumi stiffened at that, and she had a feeling that Shenki caught it. "I'll be taking her back to where she belongs."

oOo

The room that housed her, it no longer felt warm. Her body itched as though she were the one in that child's place. Had she done that? No other Uchiha had walked away unscathed except for her. Well, granted, she was paralyzed from the neck down, but compared to the others, she was the best off. None of her skin had turned into throw away leather rags despite how much it itched seeing someone else with such an affliction. She shuddered.

"Is anything wrong?" asked Nurse Yumitsuki in concern. The woman was about ready to leave. She was of a much kinder disposition than the pawner that had dragged her away from this lifetime's kins.

"No, nothings-"

A scream ruptured through the air causing Yumitsuki to jump. Izumi tried to turn her head in the general direction. She was having no luck in that department, so she settled for facing straightforward at the door and nurse.

Yumitsuki's sun kissed skin turned palid as she approached the window on Izumi's right side. Her bunned brown hair seemed to have frazzled out as her brown eyes scanned the distance.

"What is it?" she could not help but ask.

"Sector D Orphans… Oh god," gasped the nurse in reply. One of her hands had moved itself to cover her mouth.

Izumi watched the tension bolt into the woman's legs. She looked ready to run to whomever's aid it was that was out there.

"Wait!" the Uchiha shouted after her, right as Yumitsuki sprang into movement. This caused the nurse to slide into a stop near the doorway. Her palms reached out and clamped themselves onto the door frame as her feet dragged on.

"What!" she snapped.

"Turn me around, and give me something sharp," ordered the shinobi in training.

"What?" the nurse asked. This time she was more perplexed than hysterical.

"I'm a ninja," Izumi said in assurance, even though it was the last thing she could have felt in that moment.

That seemed to do the trick as the nurse approached her bedside. She swept the blanket on the Uchiha's lap aside and lifted Izumi to face the open window.

Izumi opened her mouth, and the nurse aligned a scalpel, that she pulled out from her apron, with Izumi's teeth. Why Yumitsuki had such a thing on her person, Izumi did not want to know. That would entail knowing where it had been. She did not want her mind to whisper about the potential infections she could get and cause her to lose morale.

Clenching her jaw shut, Izumi felt and heard her teeth scrape against the metal handle of the operation tool. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she opened them again. The world was ablazed in a rosy overtones. Everything was in focus. Everything was just right. The blurred out agony in her mind crawled to a standstill as chakra rushed down her spine. Lead limbs and torso moved just enough so she could cock her head to the side and swing it back.

The scalpel soared through the air, out the window, and plunged itself onto the lawn in the distance. There was a crack, then a spark. The patch of grass a couple of yards in front of the Sector D orphans burst to life in flames. This caused the Sector D orphans to drop their target, and that was the last Izumi saw of them. The static feedback sent her into a sensory overload, promptly knocking her out.

The pawner's lecture would be the thing that woke her up later that day. It was not pleasant. Not pleasant at all.

* * *

 ** _~FootNotes~_**

* * *

 _{Chapter completed on}_ August 11, 2018

 _{Explanation}_

角仁のしぇんき Kakujin no Shenki

Kakujin has a variety of meanings based on the kanji used. The first kanji of Kakujin can mean angle, corner, square, horn, and antlers; while the second kanji of Kakujin can mean humanity, virtue, benevolence, charity, man, and kernel. His name Shenki means close. So, he's someone nearby that has some of the traits and/or supplies listed in the kanji.

赫仁

Kakujin can also mean honor when written like above.

各人

Or it can also mean "each person."

P.S. This was brought to you by Jisho dot org (辞書 Jisho meaning dictionary). Hashtag not sponsored. I just play around with it to come up with neat Japanese names for anime/manga based fanfics.


	4. Chp3 : Physique

Please Note: I extended the previous chapter a bit. This chapter won't make sense without the additional context.

* * *

 _I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.~ Charlotte Bronte_

Chapter 3 : Physique

Blue curtains were parted giving Izumi a view of the outside world. Lush wet grass covered the slope that the clinic sat on along with its ashy counterpart. In the distance, a lighthouse could be seen blinking through the fog. The morning rain had clogged up most of the view, rendering bird watching useless.

Izumi sighed. How was she supposed to keep an eye out for any suspicious shinobi activity now? Then again, Doctor Shenki could take his messages elsewhere. Izumi hated being as helpless as she was. At the same time she felt relieved over the fact that her death would not be her responsibility should she die that instant. Well, that is if she overlooked the technicalities behind her disabled-ness.

"Little Sakuya, you should smile more," advised Nurse Yumitsuki from across the room. She was attending to Shiomi, an eight year old girl that had taken to observing Shenki like a fish to water whenever he did his rounds around the clinic. According to the nurses, the Sector D orphans that dwelled in the nearby forest were not pleased with the girl's defection. They had made their sentiments known when they broke her leg in the altercation from yesterday.

Izumi could not help but envy the girl. Shiomi could still move her other limbs unlike herself. It made Izumi feel inadequate, like she had failed some sort of hidden test.

"Sakuya," called Shiomi, and Izumi turned her fridget face to face her ' _older_ ' peer, "do you think Doctor Shenki will visit us today?"

"I hope not," she grumbled. She still was not sure what to think of the man. The doctor was not from Lightning, but that still did not explain his features. They screamed Kumo to her, and until recently, Konoha and Kumo had been at war. A year had barely past since then, and she doubted Kumo would willingly allow one of their ninja to roam free like Konoha did with two of its Sannins.

"And why is that?" the man in question wondered as he stepped right through the door.

Shiomi's caretaker jumped before turning around to shoot Shenki an annoyed look. "Warnings! Please use them! They exist for a reason!" the woman chided as she clutched an unraveled blanket to her chest.

"Yes, yes, Yumitsuki. I apologize," the doctor waved off.

Shiomi, not understanding what a wave off was, waved back in a confused daze. Her face fell as Shenki approached Izumi's bedside.

Unlike yesterday, when Izumi first woke up, her bed was no longer aligned with the door that was right to center of a person entering. It was turned to face the left of a person entering, which was her right if she were facing the door, and the bunk was pushed to the room's right handed upper corner. She had requested it be so, so she could keep an eye on things out the window and what was going on inside. It was a decision she did not regret, seeing as Shiomi had joined her hours later.

"Yumitsuki, how about taking Shiomi out for a walk? I'm sure she could use it," suggested Shenki.

The nurse frowned but did not object. She transferred a bewildered Shiomi to the nearest blanket covered swivel chair and dragged the girl out of the room before the child could protest. Shenki, for his part, had taken a seat at the swivel chair that was parked under the counter beside Izumi's bed.

"So, I'll take it that Kagami Sakuya isn't your actual name, is it?" Shenki commented casually.

"What?" piped Izumi. She fought back to keep her surprise out of sight. The nurses had said the bodies of the adults were charred beyond repair. Had Shenki purposely misinformed them? Misinformed her? "What're you talking about?"

Shenki's frown deepened as he informed her, "The name you gave the nurses while they bathed you, it's not your real name." With his arms crossed over his yellow polo shirt, he leaned back in his chair. The doctor's coat shifted with him. "Imagine my surprise when I finally got around to examining the bodies down at the morgue and found Sharingans in their eye sockets." Shenki dropped his arms to the chair's armrests and looked Izumi directly in the eyes. "See, I wanted to get a better understanding of what caused their deaths. That way I could figure out whether or not it correlated with your paralysis. So, imagine my surprise when I was confronted with those demon eyes, Uchiha. It gave me quite the fright while I was peeling back layers upon layers of charred skin."

"Al-alright! I get it! You-you don't appreciate b-being lied to!" Izumi stuttered out.

"I don't," confirmed the doctor as he looked out the window in thought. Then he added, "I'm not going to ask you to reveal your identity beyond the fact that you're an Uchiha. I'm a healer, not an agent of war nor a rampaging pirate like you Fire folks and the Wave people like to think, so I ask you, when it comes to health, keep it truthful. Are we clear?"

"Y-yes," responded Izumi.

The doctor nodded in approval as he rose from his chair. If Izumi could have leaned back she would have in order to do a double take. The ends of Shenki's lips had quirked upward for a split second before smoothening out into its standard frown.

"Being skeptical and paranoid is all good and well out on the battlefield, but being able to recognize when someone is offering assistants is also important," Shenki inparted. With that, he turned around and began walking towards the doors.

"When will you begin treatment?" Izumi called out to him.

He paused and turned to look over his shoulders. "Once I'm finished examining all those involved in your case."

Izumi grit her teeth but nodded. She new it was coming, the sciency phase of healing, but if that meant moving again and atoning for her failures so far, then so be it.

* * *

 **~Author's Notes~**

* * *

 _{Chapter completed on}_ October 29, 2018

First off, just want to say, Happy Halloween. I don't celebrate it, but I do love seeing the costumes people make on the internet. I don't live in the suburbs, so I don't see trick-a-treaters passing by outside my window. I guess this is my way of giving you guys a treat. I'm sorry for not updating. I've just been out of it these last two months even though I shouldn't be. I failed my college entrance exams, but I've been fortunate enough to get a second chance to retake them. That's really put a damper on things for me(the whole retaking and should be studying part).

P.S. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update this again, since I'll be out job hunting soon. I can't post-pone that segment of my life forever. The teen in me is shrieking in terror.


End file.
